City Council Didn't Take Separate Public Vote On Creating New Paid City Employee "Election Day" Holiday (With No Scheduled LB Nov. 2021 Election); They Slipped It Into New Union Contracts With Politically Influential City Employee Unions And Also Gave It To Non-Union City Mgm't Staff

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City Council Didn't Take Separate Public Vote On Creating New Paid City Employee "Election Day" Holiday (With No Scheduled LB Nov. 2021 Election); They Slipped It Into New Union Contracts With Politically Influential City Employee Unions And Also Gave It To Non-Union City Mgm't Staff

No Public Discussion Of Add'l Taxpayer Costs; Councilmembers Effectively Gave Themselves Add'l Day Off With No Reduction In Their Pay

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(Oct 29, 2021, 7:25 p.m.) -- The Long Beach City Council didn't cast a separately agendized public vote on creating a new paid City Hall employee holiday for the first Tuesday in November 2021 -- an election in some cities but not Long Beach.

Instead, they slipped the new city employee holiday provision into the latest management-negotiated, Council-approved MOUs with the politically influential (via campaign contributions) Int'l Ass'n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union (IAM, representing non-public safety City Hall employees) and LB Supervisors Ass'n and extended the benefit to unrepresented management employees.

The new paid holiday also effectively lets City Council incumbents simultaneously give themselves an additional day off without conducting the public's business and without reducing their pay.

On Sept. 15, 2020, the City Council voted 8-0 (motion by Zendejas, seconded by Uranga, Price absent) to approve the two MOUs and extend the new holiday benefit to unrepresented management employees.

The agendizing memo stated: "Additional City Holiday: In 2021, employees will receive one additional paid City holiday (Election Day -- 1st Tuesday after November 1st ever year." The agendizing memo's Fiscal Impact statement doesn't detail the additional taxpayer cost of the new holiday.

The IAM contractual provision states "Effective the first full pay period of calendar year 2021, the City will provide one additional City observed holiday (Election Day, First Tuesday after November 1st) to eligible permanent full-time and permanent part-time employees.:

There's no mention of any rationale in the Council agendizing memo for the new city paid holiday. That narrative surfaced publicly over a year later in an October 28, 2021 City press release which stated: "The Election Day holiday was created to provide City employees the time to exercise their right to vote if they wish," the Oct. 28 City release stated. [There is no Long Beach election scheduled on Nov. 2, 2021 although some other cities may have one.]

[LBREPORT.com media note: A competitor, the Pacific6 subsidiary owned/operated "LBPost.com," told its readers on Oct 28: "Long Beach city leaders voted this year to mark the first Tuesday of November as a holiday -- this year Tuesday, Nov. 2 -- in order to give government workers a chance to vote."]